American Outliers: Part III
- Jun 22, 2017
- 4 min read
When I began to meet the people defending the monuments, one of the first I befriended was a woman named Shirlon.
Shirlon was there on May Day. She was the woman who had her leg cut open with a box cutter. She has stood vigil alongside her husband, KK, in the elements, often with little sleep and dealing with passerbys who are less than kind with the things they say. Even still, Shirlon has been instrumental in trying to save the monuments within the city. On the day of our interview, a flash flood cropped up, causing all of us to flee and wind up standing in a foot and a half of water. Shirlon, however, didn’t seem too bothered; instead, she carried on like it was just another day.
When I met her, she’d been at the Jefferson Davis monument for a week. She’d been protesting the removal and helping to defend others who had been attacked. Even after May Day, and being physically assaulted, she stayed. She was there as every single monument came down, and she’s been there to help clean every monument that was defaced thereafter.
A native of New Jersey, Shirlon is new to the New Orleans area, but she’s a proud defender of history. She plans to travel the country with her husband, giving aid to any who might need it.
Me: How long have you been in New Orleans?
SW: Eight months.
Me: Where are you from originally?
SW: Bergen County, New Jersey.
Me: You moved down here, what are some things that you’ve noticed—both positive and negative—about New Orleans?
SW: First of all, the people are nicer than anything, compared to New Jersey. When I first moved down here, everyone was telling me ‘hi’, and I was looking around like, ‘who are you talking to?!’ There’s a lot of hatred out here, and for no apparent reason. No one really knows what they’re hating on. They’re just going with it because they think it’s the right thing to do.
Me: You were at May Day, correct?
SW: Yes.
Me: What made you guys go out there to begin with? What happened at May Day, and what happened after Antifa showed up, from your perspective?
SW: We were ready to go fishing that day, and KK was online, and said that we had to go down there and see if we could help. We were talking to people and trying to figure out what it was all about. On May Day, it was like the calm before the storm. They tried to kill me.
Me: They cut your leg open, right?
SW: Yes. They missed my femoral artery by just a little bit—I wasn’t supposed to be fighting but I fought—because they were attacking people in our group. They were throwing bottles at us, I had eggs thrown at me. Bottles were flying everywhere, the cops weren’t helping us. It was just utter chaos.
Me: That prompted you to return on the May 7th –
SW: And keep fighting. Because we realized it’s about saving history. At first, it was about the monuments, but then it became about saving history. Everyone wants to make it a race thing—it has to do with preserving history, doing what’s right, and teaching people; educating people on what the monuments and the flags actually mean.
Me: What have you noticed about Antifa? And other militant groups that have been out, like the Black Panthers?
SW: They don’t know what they’re talking about. They don’t know what they’re fighting for—or against—they’re just fighting to fight. If you talk to them and ask them certain things, they can’t tell you any information.
Me: How would you like to see New Orleans move forward? What are your plans for preserving history, and for defending our Constitutional rights?
SW: I’m gonna do whatever it takes to preserve history, to make sure the word gets out there. I’m going to make sure that people learn the true history—not what you learn in school—because they’re not teaching that in public schools.
Me: Do you think that’s a failure in the American education system?
SW: Absolutely. One hundred percent.
Me: Most of these people, if you ask them, don’t even know how the judicial system works, or the branches of government.
SW: Moving down here, I’ve learned more about history in these past two months we’ve been involved than I learned in my whole life in school.
Me: Were you concerned about history before, or did you realize that it was a serious issue?
SW: I would say sort of, but I didn’t really know; then I came here, and I was like, ‘wow. This is an issue. I don’t want my kids not knowing.’
Me: And this is a personal issue for you, you’ve got young children.
SW: Yeah, exactly. I want them to learn the true history. It’s about our future. I want them to know the real history. We can’t erase it.
Me: Good or bad, we still have to know history right?
SW: Yes. Absolutely. So we don’t repeat it.
Currently, you can find Shirlon on Facebook (Shirlon Wittreich)
if you’d like to keep up-to-date on the defending of monuments in the city. Soon, she, KK, and a group of defenders will be traveling the country to help people get involved politically and to get people informed. If you’d like more information, contact Shirlon.
Stay tuned for Part IV! Thank you all!
-AM
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